Inflammatory cytokines are deeply involved in causes of inflammatory diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, and it has been considered that these inflammatory diseases can be treated by inactivating inflammatory cytokines with biologicals such as low molecular drugs and antibodies. However, it is becoming clear that each inflammatory cytokine does not act alone on the site of inflammation, but a plurality of types of inflammatory cytokines synergistically act to cause development and progression of inflammatory diseases. Therefore, recent interest has focused on the effectiveness of leukocytapheresis, in which activated leukocytes as the source of inflammatory cytokines are removed from the blood.
Known examples of the method of removing activated leukocytes from the blood include a method wherein a column for removal of leukocytes, which column uses a fiber or head as a medium, is employed to carry out extracorporeal circulation of blood of the patient with an inflammatory disease to selectively remove activated leukocytes by adsorption. In terms of the medium to selectively adsorb granulocytes, there is a report wherein a bead having a certain level of irregularity in its surface is used as a medium (JP 2501500 B) and, in terms of the medium that adsorbs activated leukocytes and cytokines at the same time, there are reports wherein a nonwoven fabric or bead whose surface is modified with amino groups is used as a medium (JP 2006-312804 A and JP 7-080062 A).
However, known adsorption carriers used for selective adsorption of activated leukocytes cannot be said to have a sufficient adsorption capacity at present and, therefore, to increase the therapeutic effect of leukocytapheresis in an inflammatory disease patient, it is believed that the adsorption capacity needs to be improved especially for granulocytes and monocytes among leukocytes.
There is thus a need to provide a carrier for blood component adsorption that enables selective and efficient adsorption removal of granulocytes and monocytes and, at the same time, enables adsorption removal of inflammatory cytokines.